August 27, 2011

Day -4: Campath is the Devil

The past two days have been the absolute worst of this journey so far.

Kate started campath yesterday and is not handling it well at all. She was fine for the first two hours of the four hour infusion but, as hour two came to an end, Kate became unconsolable. Despite being on Demerol, Ativan, Tylenol, and benadryl, she was uncomfortable, vomiting, shaking, and spiked a fever that got up over 105.

No matter how many medical professionals told me how "normal" her reaction was, I was very worried by such a high fever. Thankfully her fever broke and hasn't been over 102 since. We've even had moments of no fever!

This morning I woke up to a swollen baby that had dangerously low blood pressure. We battled her blood pressure most of the morning and had to wake her up multiple times as her pressure dropped as low as 60/20 on several occasions. Right now she is hanging out around 80/33 which is low but now nearly as scary as it was earlier. She is sleeping with a pulseox on and having her blood pressure taken every 30 minutes.

Add in the balancing act of input verse output to ensure the third drug (cytoxin) isn't ruining her kidneys and it has been a very, very busy day. It's going to be a busy night as well with the requirement that her diaper be changed every two hours on top of the prospect of having to wake her often to increase her blood pressure.

All of this is "normal" but scares me so much.

Please keep Kate in your prayers - she has 2 more days of these horrible drugs and is so uncomfortable. I'm ready for my upbeat, active girl that is filled with personality to make an appearance again.